"For God Who said, "Let light shine out of darkness, has shone
in our hearts so as to beam forth the Light for the illumination
of the knowledge of the majesty and the glory of God as it is
manifested in the Person and is revealed in the face of
Jesus Christ The Messiah.
However, we possess this precious treasure, the divine Light
of the Gospel in frail human vessels of earth, that the grandeur
and exceeding greatness of the power may be shown to be from
God and not from ourselves."
(II Corinthians 4:6-7)
"The best of men would faint, if they did not receive mercy from God.
And that mercy which has helped us out, and helped us on, hitherto, we
may rely upon to help us even to the end. The apostles had no base and
wicked designs, covered with fair and specious pretenses. They did not
try to make their ministry to serve a turn. Sincerity and uprightness
will keep the favorable opinion of wise and good men.
Christ by His gospel makes a glorious discovery to the minds of men.
But the design of the devil is, to keep men in ignorance; and when he
cannot keep the light of the gospel of Christ out of the world, he spares
no pains to keep men from the gospel, or to set them against it.
The rejection of the gospel is traced to the willful blindness
and wickedness of the human heart. Self was not the matter or the
end of the apostles' preaching; they preached Christ as Jesus, the Savior
and the Deliverer; Who saves to the uttermost all that come to God through Him.
Ministers are servants to the souls of men; they must avoid becoming servants
to the humors or the lusts of men. It is pleasant to behold the sun in the firmament;
but it is more pleasant and profitable for the gospel to shine in the heart.
As light was the beginning of the first creation; so, in the new creation,
the light of the Spirit is His first work upon the soul. The treasure of the gospel
light and grace is put into earthen vessels. The ministers of the gospel are
subjected to the same passions and weaknesses of other men.
God could have sent angels to make known the glorious doctrine of the gospel,
or could have sent the most admired sons of men to teach the nations, but,
He chose humbler, weaker vessels, that His power might be more glorified
in upholding them, and in the blessed change wrought by their ministry."
-Matthew Henry's Commentary
No comments:
Post a Comment